My Greatest Gift this Holiday Season…

Christmas is over for another year. 2015 is almost at an end and - as is usual with the time of year - I’m in a rather reflective mood. I’ve been struggling with how to approach the subject of this post for some time, but I’ve seen a lot of bloggers posting about their recent Christmas gifts, so I thought I’d tell you about mine…

 

On the last postage day before Christmas, I received a letter with the news I had been hoping for – after 3 years, the results of my smear test were finally normal! This sounds like a pretty simple thing, but my life feels like it has been on hold for almost three years, since right after my son was born.

 

I Ate Too Much… But There’s Always Room For Baileys!

Friendship is important. Friends are supportive, they get you through hard times, put up with your complaining and are often thought of as ‘the family you choose for yourself.’ Despite this, friends are usually overlooked at Christmas, especially when you have kids. Families gather and celebrate together, often leaving your ‘chosen family’ forgotten about until the New Year. Not content with this, we wanted to include friends in our celebrations, and this weekend marked our much anticipated annual Christmas meal with friends, or Friendmas as some people refer to it!

 

Festive Coffee, Christmas Markets and Star Wars

When you have kids, making time for your partner can often be difficult, especially in the run up to Christmas. At the end of the day, we are often too busy completing chores, or too exhausted after a busy day at work, to spend any time together as a couple – we needed a day off! To mark the final year countdown to our wedding (we’ve been engaged for a while), we both decided to head into Edinburgh and enjoy ourselves at the Christmas markets, while the kids were at school and nursery.

 

I Hate Glitter Glue! - Wedding Planning on a Budget

Being a mum, I’m supposed to enjoy arts and crafts right? I was part of the Brownies and Guides as a child (well known for their love of making things) and I even studied Art at high school, yet none of these experiences succeeded in nurturing the creative side of my brain. Perhaps scientists are better suited with numbers and theories? That being said, why on Earth did I agree to make my own wedding stationary?!
 

Holidays Our Way

I recently agreed to take part in my first collaborative blogging opportunity in the form of a Christmas themed ‘Blog Hop.’ The whole idea was to share the work of fellow bloggers in a non-competitive way, while still writing about what you enjoy. A list of the other fantastic bloggers involved can be found at the end of this post, please take a moment to visit and discover some hidden gems!

 

 

'Rules' for Completing a PhD

I had a rather unsuccessful day in the lab today and gave up trying to make any sense of my results, so I thought I would share a post I wrote a wee while ago when I was struggling with the notion of continuing my PhD. Bringing up two kids, along with studying full time, is a pretty tough thing to do, and can often lead to a great deal of stress. I find writing helps to relieve some of that stress...

A PhD is a demanding job, with many deadlines to meet, so it is very important that we don't forget to relax in our free time and take part in enjoyable activities as a way of relieving stress. One of my favourite things to do is watch horror movies, particularly those involving zombies and other apocalyptic scenarios. One of my favourite examples is “Zombieland”, a film which manages to combine both the guts and gore of a juicy horror film with the sarcasm and laughter of a comedy film – a Zom Com if you prefer! The story follows a young college student, known as “Columbus” as he treks across the states, surviving by adhering to his own practical and simple rules.
 

Age Restrictions Are Definitely There For A Reason

We’ve all ignored them at some point in the past, whether for our own kids or someone else’s. Perhaps it wasn’t that long ago that we were kids ourselves, begging our parents or older relatives to sneak us into a film, or buy a video game that was too old for us. We recently learnt (the hard way) that age restrictions are definitely there for a reason!